Licensing deal values in the pharmaceutical industry rose by 37.1% year-to-year, from $33.7 billion in 2014 to $46.2 billion in 2015, driven primarily by Sanofi, which struck three licensing deals that totaled nearly $9 billion, according to research and consulting firm GlobalData.

In the company's latest whitepaper, Mr Gianfranco Zeppetelli, GlobalData's Deals Analyst, explains: "Sanofi inked two key partnerships for metabolic indications, the first of which was a $4.3 billion partnership with South Korea's Hanmi Pharma. Sanofi gained exclusive worldwide license to develop and commercialize three pipeline products for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

"Sanofi also made a $1.7 billion agreement with Lexicon Pharma to manufacture and sell sotagliflozin (LX-4211), an investigational oral dual inhibitor of SGLT-1 and SGLT-2 currently in Phase III development."

GlobalData's whitepaper states that there has been a surge in investment of deals in the Immuno-Oncology (I-O) space over the past five years, as immunotherapies have advanced significantly, becoming the pillar of cancer treatment. In the I-O space, Sanofi signed a $2.7 billion deal to co-develop Regeneron's REGN-2810, a programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitor currently in Phase I testing.

Another important I-O partnership was Pfizer's $2.9 billion agreement with Merck KGaA to develop and commercialize avelumab (MSB-0010718C), an investigational anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibody in Phase II development as a potential treatment for multiple metastatic and advanced solid tumors, including breast and prostate cancer.